Strands
by LeaderLeo
Summary: Just when things start to get normal again, tragedy strikes in more forms than one. Leo suddenly faces a staggering amount of responsibility that may just be more than he can take, and under the weight, his sanity is slowly starting to snap. [Final part of Strings, Reading the first two fanfics, Strings and Threads are HIGHLY suggested, plot doesn't make sense without doing so.]
1. Chapter 1

**Hi, I know it took a long time for me to get to this point. I've been debating for a long time whether to continue this or not, so I decided to make this the final installment. Note: this part of the fanfic takes place after "Vengeance is Mine".**

Raphael jumped to his feet as Fishface ran at him, balisword in hand. Raph barely managed to deflect the blow. It wasn't that he couldn't beat Fishface in combat, he definitely could, more of the fact that they had been fighting at least a hundred Foot Bots and some of the other Foot members in the past ten minutes. Donatello slid right next to him, gripping his bo tightly. "There's way too many of them!" he yelled. "Things can't really get worse right now-" Rocksteady and Bebop entered the room, and Raph gave him a deadpan stare while Donnie added, "- I stand corrected."

Raph scanned the throne room quickly. Michelangelo was knocking the heads off three bots while Leonardo clashed swords with Karai. The half-snake kunoichi threw a kick which was dodged, then counterattacked. "Karai! Snap out of it! We're on your side!"

"She's still under that control serum, huh?"

"Apparently," Donnie answered. "I was hoping it might wear off, but we've given it two or three days, and it doesn't seem to be."

Mikey joined in the short conversation. "Dude, she looks so creepy. I mean, she's like, completely normal, but she has snake eyes, mouth, and arms!"

Donnie interrupted. "Technically, snakes don't have arms, so it would be impossible for her to have arms like a snake."

"You know what I mean!"

Raph opened his mouth to respond, but he felt his arm being twisted back followed by a crack. Pain shot up his arm as he fell down with Donnie catching him. The genius looked worried. "Leo! We have a problem…"

Having already noticed Raph arm, which was bent at an odd angle, Leo kicked Karai back a few yards and ran towards the entrance, followed by the rest of the group. "There's too many! We have to rescue her another time…"

At the lair, Donatello fixed Raph's arm while Mikey and Leo looked around the lair. "There. All fixed up." Turned to the other two, he asked, "What in the name of Darwin's beard are you guys doing?"

"Looking for Splinter, we can't find him," Leo said. "Yeah, he's just not there… You think maybe he got eaten by Ice Cream Kitty?" Mikey gasped. "KITTY! WHY! I THOUGHT YOU WERE MY FRIEND!"

Raph decided to take action and slapped their youngest brother on the head. "No, shellbrain, he didn't get eaten by an ice cream cat mutant. This is _Splinter_ we're talking about."

When the two began to bicker about the probability of Ice Cream Kitty being a space alien with supernatural powers, Donnie interrupted. "Guys! Check your T-Phones! It says in the history that my and Leo's phones were used to call the Cheese Phone!"

Raph and Mikey quickly checked, and their eyes widened at the screen. "Shit! It says so on our phones too!"

Donnie chewed on this for a moment. "Dexter must have hacked into our T-Phones to make it look like we needed Master Splinter's help."

"Why would Stockboy do that?" Mikey asked.

Raph opened his mouth to make a scathing remark, but his eldest brother answered for him, worry in his eyes. "To lure him into a trap."

On the docks, Splinter tried to hear or see any sign of his sons. He couldn't sense anything that suggested that they had even been there in the past twenty-four hours. _But Leonardo told me that they had been ambushed at the docks. Michelangelo called a little later to say there were too many of them, and right after Raphael and Donatello called for help. So where are they?_

Suddenly, it reckoned to him that with Baxter's technology, simply speaking the words and then changing them to the voices he knew so well would only be so easy. _I need to get out of here._

Just as he started to run around, he felt a sharp pain in his forearm. Too late. He pulled out the dart immediately, but the world started to blur. Master Splinter barely could see the Karai-like figure coming out from behind a building and slowly walking towards him. Black ebbed in his vision and darkness consumed him.

 _My sons…Stay safe…._

Half unconscious, he barely felt it when his daughter's fangs made contact with his neck.

 **I know this was a bit short, I'm still getting back into the world of . Next time I'll make it longer!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm going to make some acknowlegdements to SILVER DRAGON SD, BubblyShell22, and yukio87, and FaithfulWhispers for giving me a confidence boost and allowing me to keep continuing this. :)**

Donnie jumped down from one of the small storage buildings on the docks. "Look, there's Sensei!"

Everyone rushed forward. "Sensei? Sensei, wake up!" Splinter didn't respond to Raph. "Donnie, is he okay?" Leo asked. "Umm..his pulse is pretty weak, and it looks like he's been here for a few hours… we've got to get him back, immediately!" On the way back, Mikey asked, "Don, is it…y'know….fatal?" His direct older brother didn't answer.

2 hours later…

Donatello walked out of the lab. "Okay, so the poison that Karai probably put in him is pretty slow moving. It has to infect the whole body before reaching the heart, so we have quite a lot of time for me to figure out some kind of antidote. "How long? Is Sensei gonna be okay?" The genius thought hard before responding, "I'd say a couple months. It's okay, Mikey, by then we probably won't have anything to worry about."

"Whew, thanks D!" Mikey gave a relieved smile.

It wasn't his fault, as the youngest, to fully understand what the others knew. There was a double meaning to Donatello's words.

For the next few days, the routine was surprisingly, for the most part, unchanged. Donnie, as usual, was stuck behind lab doors. Raph was beating the crap out of another innocent punching bag. Mikey was reading comic books, and Leo was training. However, April could sense the mood change when she walked in. "Hey, D."

He whirled around from what he was working on and put on a nervous smile. "Oh, uh…Hey, April! What's up?"

"How's the antidote? Can I help with anything?"

Donnie's face went a shade paler. "What?! I mean…Great! No help needed! Goin' good!"

April raised an eyebrow. "How much?"

"Uhh…around 7.235% ."

"Uh-huh. Progress," she said. It was almost possible to see the sarcasm dripping from her voice. "Come on, Donnie. Let me help!"

The scientist sighed. "I'm sorry April, it's too dangerous. I'm basically playing around with snake poison! You don't know what could go wrong. Right now, everyone's a little careful, and a tad bit stressed, and we will be for the next few weeks because… well, the reason's fairly obvious."

April thought about this. "'Kay, kind of get what you mean there."

"Thanks."

Meanwhile, in the dojo, Leo flipped and swung down with his katana. "Ugh, too slow." He performed the move again and again. _I have to be_ perfect _, now that the other three need me more than ever. In traditional Japanese culture, after Sensei, I'm the one leading the team. I have to be a_ perfect _leader, and that means I have to be the best in_ everything, _including fighting._

 _I have to be extremely responsible now, since Karai is a mutant snake that the Foot have controlled to be on their side, Sensei is as close as possible to death without dying, and everyone is depressed and I have to get our group together-_

His swords clattered to the ground. "Okay, don't think about that. Think positive. I can get our group through this without breaking apart. I can do this." After a few moments of thinking, Leo decided that giving himself something else to think about would help him get his mind off the situation. The leader stumbled into his room and collapsed on the bed. _I have to plan out where we're going to go on night patrol tonight…_

Thirty minutes earlier, Raph was having an extremely bad day. Mikey apparently reasoned that starting off his older brother's day by launching into a narration of his comic book would lighten him up. He was mistaken. After a flying Michelangelo landed face first on the floor, there was an explosion from Donnie's lab that near destroyed Raph's picture of Slash, back when he was still Spike. He decided to release his anger on a punching bag, then tried holding a conversation with Leo, but his brother just gave him a tired smile and walked into the dojo. _Dooshbag's blaming himself again. Why can't he just get it into his head that he isn't the cause of all world problems?!_

When Raph noticed him going into his room thirty minutes later, he thought, _That's it. I'm giving Fearless a little talk before he starts jumping off the Empire State Building._

The red masked turtle stormed into Leo's room. His oldest brother was at a desk with a map of Manhattan. "Why do you always have to-"

"Sorry, Raph, can't talk right now. I'm busy."

Annoyance sparked inside him. "So you can't even listen to me for a few seconds?"

"Nope."

The spark ignited into a flame, and Raph blew over. "Why do you always blame yourself for things that aren't your fault? You can be SO annoying sometimes! I mean, it wasn't even your fault were in this mess! It's a mess, sure, but you didn't cause it! So why are you always blaming yourself?!"

Leo was silent for a few moments. "Because it is my fault. I was careless, and that caused Karai to get mutated and controlled and Sensei to fall into that trap. I didn't pay attention to my surroundings, and I caused all of these problems. I'm now trying my best to solve these problems, and the first thing to do is to get our group back together. I can't do that, Raph, with you still here and bothering me, so if you don't mind, can you _please_ get out?"

"Hell no. Not until you promise not to blame yourself."

" _Get out._ "

Leo's eye started ticking. All the stress was getting to him, and now Raph was refusing to work with him. Normally he didn't lose his temper, but at this point he couldn't help it. All that pressure was pressing down on the teen, and he finally snapped.

However, he didn't realize that at that moment, something inside him snapped along with his temper.

"Raphael, if you don't get out _right now-_ " he paused.

"You'll what? Can't think of anything?" Raph taunted.

However, Leo wasn't pausing because he couldn't think of what to say. He was pausing because of a familiar cold feeling that started to make him panic.

"Raph, _get out of here!_ If you stay here any longer, you're gonna get hurt!"

The warning wasn't well received. "Yeah, I'm _real_ scared."

"Raph, I'm not kidding! I'm getting that weird feeling again… That feeling before I change into _that_ thing!"

"Yeah, nice try, Splinter Junior."

"I AM NOT KIDDING RAPHAEL GET OUT RIGHT-" Leo was cut off as he doubled over and started coughing hard.

"Woah, dude, you okay?" Concerned, the second oldest rushed over and put his hand on his back. "I swear that if you're trying to trick me-" Suddenly, his brother gripped his hand. Hard. Startled, Raph looked at Leo, who was smirking back at him. "You should have listened." With surprising strength, he was thrown against a wall. Dizzy, he pulled his sais from his belt but they were kicked out and away from his hands. Raph got two powerful blows to the face, and his throbbing head refused to let him do anything about it. By the time the world stopped spinning, his vision cleared to reveal the blade of his brother's sword inches from his face.

"I'll be happy to kill you first."

Raph closed his eyes as the katana came up, then down.

 **Enjoy the cliffhanger. :D I know I'm evil.**


	3. Chapter 3

There was a clang as metal collided with metal. Raph immediately opened his eyes to see Donnie, who had deflected the blow with his own naginata blade. "Donnie, watch out! He's seriously strong!"

"I noticed, thanks Captain Obvious!" came the shouted reply. Leo successfully managed to knock Donnie off his feet and throw a powerful hit to the head, but the genius jumped back up seconds later. Donnie's eyes flared up. "Get out of my brother!" He made a solid hit, keeping Leo down for a few moments. "I need backup!"

"On it, bro!" Mikey called as he ran into the room, nunchucks in motion. Raph grabbed his sais and helped the other two try and subdue the leader.

However, after ten seconds, it was clear that wasn't happening anytime soon. "We can't let him get to Sensei!" Donnie shouted, right before Leo punched him solid in the face. Raph slowly got to his feet, his other two brothers already on the ground. He leaped for the thing taking form of his brother, but the teen dodged it and grabbed his wrist, using it to smack him against a wall. With maddening calm, he sighed, "Why do you three always have to try to defeat me in combat? I'm the one with the snapped strings, so it's clear that I will always be able to beat you. My logic is undeniable." Raph vision went dark as his older brother slammed his fist between his eyes.

When he woke up, Mikey found himself tied to his two direct older brothers. "Guys, how long were we-" Donatello answered, "Just a few minutes. Leo just left. Just give me a second-" The ropes fell apart. Mikey looked down in amazement. "Dude, you have like magic or something?" His brother grinned. "Nope, just a hidden knife."

All three ninjas ran into Donnie's lab. "Where's Master Splinter and Leo?" Suddenly from behind a desk, the said ninja slowly walked out, dragging Splinter, who was still unconscious. Raph, Donnie, and Mikey gasped at the knife at their father's throat. "Alright, now all of you, drop your weapons."

"How do we know you're not gonna just….you know…. After we drop them?" Raph asked. Leo smirked. "That's the thing. You don't." Mikey turned his head to the clatter of Rapheal's sais on the ground, followed by Donatello's staff. He dropped his own weapons, then lifted his gaze again. _Aw, snap… what are we gonna do…Maybe Don can think of something?_ He looked at the genius, whose eyes were panicky, but were also brightened with anger. Raph's eyes were similar. As much as that made him slightly reassured, t still didn't mean that they knew what to do any more than he did. _But what about Master Splinter?_

Right at that moment, his sensei's eyes shot open as he grabbed the deranged teen's arm and flung him to the ground. Caught by surprise, Leo didn't have time to react as a swift kick to the head knocked him out.

"Sensei!" Mikey, Donnie and Raph ran to their master to give him a hug. "We thought you might not recover." Donnie said.

"I got the poison out of my system. You just had to give me enough time and be patient. Which all four of you did well." Splinter smiled. However, it slowly faded. "Why is Leonardo like this, Donatello?"

"I began to notice he was acting really strange. So I made a theory that under the huge amount of pressure that was put on him, his mind became a lot weaker. Apparently his darker side decided to take advantage of that, because by the time I had grabbed Mikey and both of us got to Raph's room, he was about to stab his head in!"

The leader of the Hamato Clan frowned. "Then why has he not changed back, yet, Donatello?"

"That's the problem, Sensei. We were unperceptive and we gave his insane counterpart too much time to take over We're too late."

Seeing the panic in his sensei's eyes, the genius rushed to finish. "But I have a solution! We need to befriend his insane side. As of this moment, these two different Leo's are now the same Leo: our enemy. But if you think about it, although we may think of this Leo as evil, he's not completely evil, just crazy. If we can show him that what he's doing is wrong, he might give up and give us our brother back."

There was a long silence.

"Donatello… I would approve of your plan, but…How can you tell that he is not completely evil?"

"Remember back when Leo saved Karai from that falling portion of the ceiling a month ago? Why do you think he did it? Because his insane side let him. It decided to back off and let him save Karai." Seeing that the other three didn't seem to be exceptionally persuaded, he went on, urgency in his tone. "Guys, Sensei, I know it may seem like I'm just grasping at straws here, but he has a good side! He's the one who let Leo save Karai!"

"He's also the one who turned him crazy in the first place!" Raphael snarled.

On the defensive, Donatello glared back. "Raph, he has a small part of good in there. I know it. Behind all that confusion and insanity, it's there. We just have to help it come out."

"Oh really! Then why don't you fucking show it to me then, genius!?"

Donnie turned back to Master Splinter. "Father, please. Let me try."

Donnie felt his patience cracking, then shattering when the response was, "I'm sorry Donatello, but I will not risk your life because of a mere theory."

The second to youngest felt his hope fall, then get right back up. "Fine. There's good in him. As much as I would like to stick to scientific proof, I can't, because I admit there isn't any. But I've got a strong feeling, and Sensei, you told us to trust our instincts."

With that, the young scientist left the room. _I have to try. To get Leo back, I have to try._

Later, at midnight, Donnie found himself awkwardly trying to talk to a silent Leo, his confidence from earlier in the day faltering. "Ummm… hey. My name is Donatello…but you probably already know that. Errrr…are you okay? I'm sorry if any of us hurt you in that fight earlier. Raph said you were okay, but I wanted to see for sure…"

The leader didn't answer.

"Okay….um, I'll just stay here for a few more minutes if you want to talk."

Finally, after 5 minutes with the uncomfort reaching a peak, Donnie stood up. "Listen, I need to go and get some sleep. But, uhh… whenever you need something, just…tell me, okay?" He had one foot out the door when he heard the sound of chains clinking together, signifying movement. He turned around to see that Leo had shifted his position so that a deep cut on his shoulder was visible. For a few moments, he froze, not knowing what to do, then quickly went into motion. "Oh, umm… sure! I'll get that fixed as soon as I can."

After ten minutes, Donnie walked out of the room after saying goodnight to Leo, who didn't answer. He hadn't said anything during any moment of the process, but Donatello was satisfied. "Hey, it's still progress." He murmured to himself.

The next day, he sneaked to Leo's room again and tried holding a conversation which didn't work. _Maybe I expected a little too much after last night._

"So, I'm just going to go now, alright? The others are gonna be wondering where I am."

Donatello stood up, right when he heard, "Why are you acting towards me so much more different from the others?"

There was a moment's hesitation. "Because I believe in second chances. And more importantly, I don't think you're one hundred percent bad. You were created from the fact that we weren't exactly good followers to our Leo, the other side of you. I believe you're only like this because you're the result of all the times Leo was mentally hurt. Since all of your views on us are bad, how else would you react to us after not knowing the good parts of us too?"

Donatello received silence for an answer, but he didn't falter. "I want to help you, Leo. I know you've been annoyed and tired because of us, and also because of the added burden of leading the Hamato Clan without Splinter while we were barely doing anything to help you."

"Don't call me by _his_ name." Leo hissed.

"But you _are_ him. You're just that part of him that he tries to keep hidden so much, the part that he can't help having. And this is what you would have become a long time ago without all that stubborn strength to keep you going. I'm trying to help you, Leo, but I can only help you if you give me something to work with."

Donatello managed to sneak back to his lab without Mikey or Raph noticing. _I can do this. I'll bring you back, and if this doesn't work, I'll just try again._

 **If Donnie seems a bit OOC,I kind of figured that since he makes all of those inventions for long periods of time without giving up, he would have a lot of determination if he focused on one thing and one thing only. Also, it was stated in the wiki page that Donnie was the one with the second hardest time controlling his temper, first being Raph.**


	4. Chapter 4

Donnie looked over his shoulder at his older brother. His wounds were healing quickly, much quicker than an average person would take, but he wasn't really surprised about that. Leo still hadn't said anything since the day before yesterday, when he had asked that question, but he wasn't attacking anyone either, so as far as Donnie was concerned, it was improvement. "Hey," he said, "I got to make it in time for lunch, so I gotta go. Bye, and uh…see you soon!" The scientist got up and walked out.

While Donnie was locking the door, he took note of the fact that his shadow was a lot taller than usual. _Wait…That isn't_ my _shadow._ Whirling around, he came face-to-face with Master Splinter. "Oh, um, uhh…. Hi, Sensei! H-How long were you standing there…?" he stuttered. _Guess who's grounded…_

"My son, I am very disappointed in you. You have disobeyed my orders completely and put your safety at risk." Donatello nodded and prepared for the long lecture. "However, I am also very impressed." Suddenly his head shot up. "Sensei?" he asked, not sure if his ears were working. "You have tried hard for the past four days to make progress with the relationship between you and your brother. I am proud to have a son like you." The genius just stared at his master like a particularly dense fish. "I will not tell the others, and I will continue to let you help your brother, under one condition. You must not let yourself come to any harm, no matter what. Is that understood?" Although he was good at hiding it, Donnie could see the spark of fear in his sensei's eyes. "Hai, Sensei."

At 1:00 at night, Donnie snuck into the room with Leo in it. "Hi Leo," he started. "Today I was thinking, because you've been much more physically advanced, you've also been intellectually advanced, right? I also estimated that your IQ level is around 140-180, a _lot_ higher than average. So I thought that maybe you would want to play a game." Although Leo didn't say anything, Donnie detected a small sign of movement at the end of his sentence.

"A game?" Taking advantage of his brother's sudden interest, Donnie hurriedly went on, "Yes, a game. It involves a lot of thinking, strategy, and looking ahead." He quickly reached into his bag and pulled out a chessboard. "I was hoping you'd be interested… d-do you wanna play?" Leo hesitated for a moment. "Fine." Donnie silently let out a breath he'd been holding for the past two minutes, and began setting up the pieces. "Here, I'll show you how."

By three in the morning, Donnie had won four times while Leo had won three. He internally marveled at the way he always seemed to follow one strategy, then favor another, completely different one, confusing the opponent. As Leo moved his pawn forward, trapping Donnie's king, the latter slowly began to put the pieces back. "Great job! I've never seen anyone master the game that quickly…"

Donnie didn't receive a response, not that he expected one. But as he was leaving the room, he heard a soft, "Goodnight." He smiled and murmured, "'Night," before he gently shut the door.

Donnie didn't see the red-banded turtle looking on from behind a corner as he silently went to bed.

The next day, Raph stormed into Leo's room. "Listen, pretty boy," he snarled. "I know what kind of game you're trying to play, trying to trick Don into trusting you. My little bro might fall for it, but I'm not. If I see even a scratch on him, I won't hesitate before stompin' in here and kicking you so hard you land in Dimension X, got it?" His vision almost turned red when Leo laughed. " _You_ think that your skill will match up to mine? I'm _light years_ ahead of you. Why don't you just wake up out of that stupid dreamworld?"

In a flash, Raph had his sais inches away from his face, yet his former leader still managed to keep that infuriating smile. "That's it, I'm taking you down right now, you psychopath!" he yelled, then swung back his fist.

"Raph, NO!"

Donnie immediately jumped into the way of Raphael's fist, and it connected solidly with his face. He landed hard on top of Leo, who winced as his cuts, which were still healing, were put under pressure. "Get away from him!" Raph grabbed his younger brother and lifted him off his older one. "Raph, listen!" Donnie pleaded, "He's okay! He just needs to trust us, and you're not helping with that." Raph paused for a moment, and turned back to the genius with a warning glint in his eye. "Donnie, for him to trust us, we have to trust him, right? So why don't you just hand over your knife?"

"Wh-what?" Donnie was starting to get worried. "Hand him your knife. If you trust him enough to do it. Hey, if you're right, then he won't kill us."

"Raph, this is dangerous!" But his direct older brother only smiled. "Then you agree with me?"

"No, you know that's not what I mean!"

"Then do it!"

The scientist took a deep breath, then hesitantly handed Leo his knife.

As soon as he felt the knife handle in his palm, Leo came back to life. These idiots _actually_ trusted him with a _knife_? On instinct, he tensed, ready to throw it into the neck of the annoyingly loud one, when he hesitated. _What am I doing? I should throw it while I have the chance._ However, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get his hand to move accordingly.

"See?" Donnie said, triumphant. But when he looked at his brother, there wasn't any anger on his face. "Wait…so…you don't want to kill us?" Leo tried to say, 'Yes, of course I do,' but he couldn't. Instead, he ended up saying, "No." Raph turned around for a few moments. When he turned back to face them, he was still scowling, but he had a spark in his eye that wasn't previously there. "Remember, if Donnie gets hurt because of you, I'm still keeping my word on that promise." And he slammed the door behind him. Donnie turned to Leo, and although he didn't say anything, the hopeful, thankful smile was enough.

As Donnie gently closed and locked the door, Leo started getting angry with himself. They had even forgotten to take the knife away from him, and he _still_ couldn't get himself to kill them! "I'm just waiting for them to trust me more so that I call end all of their lives at the same time," he tried to reassure himself.

But another thought fought its way up there with it: _What if I don't want to end them at all?_

That evening, Donatello came to visit again, and the routine was the same. Donnie made a few more awkward attempts at conversation, and after about ten minutes, he eventually began to falter. Donnie decided to give it another most likely fruitless try. "So, how was-"

Immediately, his brother started retching and doubling over. Concerned, Donnie put a hand on his shoulder and asked, "You okay?" He didn't expect his hand to be grabbed and used to catapult him into a wall. Dizzy, he slowly shook his head and looked up. "What the-" He was immediately cut off by the sight of his former leader, chains snapped, running right towards him with a knife. _How did he-_ Then he remembered that he had forgotten to take the knife away from him earlier in the day. _That's such a stupid mistake!_ Why _would I do that!?_ Just then, the door burst open, with three figures at the opening. "Get away from my son!" Splinter yelled, and all three ran forward with their weapons unsheathed, a single target in mind.

Although Donnie similarly dove into the fight, he knew it was already over the moment they had forgotten to take the knife away from him. After not even ten minutes, Leonardo had already subdued them. "Alright, who's first?" he smirked. "How about the cute one?" he slowly made his way towards Mikey with the knife in his hand. Donnie tried to get up, but his ankle was twisted at a near 180 angle. After a quick look, he realized that Leo had purposely aimed his more powerful attacks at their legs or feet. _No, Mikey!_

"If you touch him, I swear…" Raph let that threat hang in the air, but it was hollow, and Leo seemed to know it as he ignored him and raised the knife. Mikey's eyes widened as the blade came down.


	5. Chapter 5 Epilogue

Leo swung the blade down towards Mikey, and then…. _something_ happened. _What the..._ The blade stopped inches away form its target. _Wait…why can't I…_ No matter how much he tried to push the knife down, he couldn't; something stopped him. "Why can't I just…" He heard Mikey say something, and he looked down, into his eyes. "What was that?"

"It's called affection," Michelangelo repeated. "When all logic tells you that you really want to hurt someone, but you just can't. It's called affection."

"I can't feel those kind of feelings," Leo scoffed. "But of course you wouldn't know that, you're the stupid one for a reason." He saw hurt flicker in the younger turtle's eyes, but it soon vanished. "Donnie and Raph have been telling me about you. When they trusted you with a knife, you didn't try to hurt them." His voice grew louder, more desperate. "Leo, I know you've been under a serious amount of pressure. But please _, you've got to listen to me._ " Leonardo tried to block out his voice, but found himself drawn to his younger brother's words.

"Bro, we're really sorry for how we treated you. I know you're angry and pretty much sick of all of us. I can't say I know how you feel, since I don't. But, Leo, _come back to us_. We need you. You're the only one out of us who can cope with that kinda responsibility. We're sorry about putting you under that much stress. So I'll tell you right now: You're an awesome leader bro, and a better older brother. A team can't work properly without one of the pieces." Mikey's eyes stung with tears, and he tried to hold them back.

"I...I don't know what to do without you."

A tear fell on the floor. And another one. And another. He couldn't hold it back. Mikey tried his best to keep it in, but the pressure from the past year came flooding back. "When you changed, I got really freaked out. I thought you weren't coming back. And then it happened again…I think I'm losing my own strings whenever this kinda thing happens. I'm scared that if you keep shifting like this, _I'm_ gonna turn weird this time. Please don't change again…."

The youngest ninja broke down, not being able to keep it behind another smiling mask. Then he felt someone hugging him, and he jolted his head up.

His older brother was smiling back at him.

"I'm sorry for scaring you, Mikey," he said softly. "I didn't know… I promise, it won't happen again."

Michelangelo didn't know how to act, so he stuck to what he did best. He smiled.

 _A week later…_

"Are you sure it can work, Donnie?" Leo asked.

"Yes, I'm fairly sure I can do it, as long as I can get my hands on one of those brain-worms," The second-youngest answered. "Then all we need to do is bust into there, steal a brain worm, and Genius here can make some kinda worm-killer thing." Raph summarized. "Great, D. We can think of a plan tomorrow," Leo said.

All four left the lab, and Leo walked inside his room. _The things that have happened here the past year…_ _Sometimes I still get nightmares._ The leader paused as familiar images flashed through his mind. _Sometimes I still doubt if I have actually gotten better, if I'll have a relapse._ Suddenly, he heard Raph's piercing voice. "You're still up watching Crognard?"

"Not my fault, bro, it's _awesome_!"

"Mikey, that isn't good for your health…"

"This show is all I need to live, Donnie!"

Leo hesitated, then smiled. _These are still open wounds, and no matter how much time passes, their scars will remain._

He placed his hand on the doorknob, ready to join the others in the conversation. _But wounds can heal._

Leonardo opened the door and stepped out.

 **Thanks for bearing with me though this whole storyline! I LOVE you guys!**

 **XD**


End file.
